The Mining Hazard (not including coal) dataset provides essential information for planners and developers building in areas of former shallow underground mine workings that may collapse.

Mining hazards may lead to financial loss for anyone involved in the ownership or management of property, including developers, householders or local government.

These costs could include increased insurance premiums, depressed house prices and, in some cases, engineering works to stabilise land or property.

Armed with knowledge about potential hazards, preventative steps can be put in place to alleviate the impact of the hazard to people and property.

The cost of such prevention may be very low, and is often many times lower than the repair bill following ground movement.

The ‘mining hazard’ data layer draws together a diverse range of material derived from geology, which constrains distribution, supplemented by literature searches for historic locations and expert knowledge to assemble, interpret, and organise this information.

The information from the various sources has been compiled into a digital format using GIS to create a series of seven separate data layers reflecting distinct categories of mining; each of these is the result of extensive research, specialist understanding and development and application of an appropriate method of data capture.

Mining of coal is specifically excluded from this data set and enquiries on past coal mining should be directed to the Coal Authority.

Hazards due to underground mining

Former underground workings, particularly where shallow, may collapse and cause surface settlement. The BGS dataset gives the potential for hazards due to underground (non-coal) mining.

Underground extraction of minerals and rocks has taken place in Britain for more than 5000 years. A broad range of different raw materials have been extracted, from precious metals such as gold and silver, to sandstone and gypsum using underground methods.